Mindfulness Matters: how to spot mental health issues in yourself and others

In recent years, the issues around mental health have come to the fore, with many suffering in silence despite help being available in many forms. This is especially true in the workplace.

The Drum has teamed with Kathleen Saxton, co-founder of psychoeducation consultancy Psyched Global and executive recruitment firm The Lighthouse, to offer some insights on how to recognise and help co-workers who face such challenges.

Mindfulness Matters is a five-part series of short tips from Saxton where she offers insights was signs to look out for in colleagues that they may have mental health issues that may need to be addressed as well as the need to recognize issues with ourselves and where they may lie on the ‘continuum’ that everyone is on.

“Spotting it means to be that someone is maybe acting slightly out of character, they are quieter, more withdrawn, not sleeping, maybe they are getting more physically ill more often and they are certainly withdrawing from the day-to-day life, the office and the agency,” Saxton explains before discussing ‘masking’ where people express and hide their true feelings in the work place.

The next four episodes of Mindfulness Matters will run over the course of this week on The Drum.

This year, The Drum's annual event, Do It Day will aim to help change the stigma of mental health in the workplace via a number of marketing initiatives created on the day by delegates in London, New York and Singapore.